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A 22-year-old Austrian man suspected of murdering his mother has been extradited from the US back to Vienna.

After 70 days on the run he was arrested in a hostel near Portland, Oregon, in October after someone recognised him from a wanted poster.

Stefan W, from Strasshof in Lower Austria, is accused of having killed his mother in August or early September by stabbing her more than 30 times in the neck at the apartment they shared.

Her body had been stuffed inside a sofa bed and was not discovered until several weeks later by which time Stefan had fled the country, flying from Vienna to Atlanta, and arriving in the US on September 8th.

It’s not clear what his motive may have been for killing his mother.

Silvia Strasser, spokeswoman for Austrian Federal Police, said that the Portland authorities had been very helpful and had distributed leaflets about the search for the fugitive in motels, hostels, and casinos.

Austria’s Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the case was “a prime example of the professional cooperation between police units around the globe".